Day 12

Today started off much better for the entire Yenger family.  Ainsley got her mother to herself all morning.  I suspect that make up was "applied" at home, prior to leaving for daycare.  I suspect that Ains was happy to be the lone apple of her mother's eye.  Reanna's day started off by NOT having the smoke alarms go off, and by NOT getting stuck in the snow.  This marked a vast improvement over yesterday!

Ben had a fantastic day at therapy, marked by two high points.  First, Chivas, the therapy dog from Hand in Paw was nice enough to come back and visit.  Ben is usually a bit slow to warm, but on this visit with Chivas, he was awesome.  He saw Chivas at the door and asked Ms. Tina - his human assistant - to bring him in.  Ben and Chivas played hide-and-seek. (Ben hid the food in a dog toy and Chivas found it and ate it.)  Ben acted like the gentle boy that he is, softly petting Chivas while he just laid there, all too happy to take the loving.

In addition to providing Ben with a positive and rewarding experience, Ms. Tina also brought along a photo album of Chivas.  Ben did even better here.  First, Ben was a champ at turning the pages of the photo album. Second, Ben did an excellent job of show Ms. Jane hie ability to "point" to stuff.  While the pointing was "whole hand" and opposed to a single finger making the motion, the behavior is the precursor to traditional pointing.  Ms Jane was quite excited!

After Chivas left, we did a few more activities, then it was time for a snack.  Today, we skipped yogurt and opted for string cheese.  It was really cool to watch Ben eat string cheese just about as "normal" as any kid not affected by a stroke.  Really, it was boss.  To demonstrate the point, here is Ben eating... you're welcome...

Enough close-ups of Ben eating for you? Nah... I suspect you'll deal.  The second highlight of the day was Ben's playing with another little boy, M.  M was probably 6 and obviously much bigger than Ben.  That said, M was nice enough to share his air hockey game and man did we have fun!  No pictures attest to this awesome event, as dad was sent chasing errant hockey pucks!  A good little work out, I don't mind saying. We played for about a half hour.  Both of the boys seemed to enjoy it, and Ms. Jane found it beneficial to Ben in a number of ways, so we just let them have at it!

After therapy, we came back to the room.  Grandma made some chicken and rice so we ate and then laid down for a nap.  After nap, Ben did his "homework," which consisted of puddy pulls, puppy crawls, a supination exercise, and some more puddy pulls for good measure.  We also spent some time playing with cars, essentially doing an  adduction exercise with his left hand.  He was having a blast, so we played until supper time. 

Supper tonight was at a place called "Cantina," a Mexican grill that was once an old warehouse in downtown Birmingham.  Ben enjoyed some chicken enchiladas and beans.  We'll see just how magical those beans are tonight...

Anyway, tomorrow is Wednesday, hump day... We are all looking forward to being reunited with the girls, soon!

Peace!